Beauty

Zanzibar.  

To me, the word alone has always been synonymous with “exotic” and “mysterious” and “really really really far away.”  But to actually see it, to be there, to feel it under my feet and sense it with every fiber of my being… it seems less far, but by no means less exotic or mysterious.  Truly, Zanzibar exceeded my expectations in every possible way!

My first impression of Zanzibar from the boat, especially old Stonetown, the capital city, was that this is a place stuck in time.  From a distance, it is how I’ve always pictured Old San Juan or Havana (perhaps very inaccurately, since I’ve never seen either), with bright buildings lining the coast, blue water made bluer in contrast with the white sand beaches.  Within in minutes of disembarking from the Kilimanjaro II, my host, Sr. Claudia had greeted me like family and launched into a tour of Stonetown.  My first few hours took me to the House of Wonder, the former home of the Omani Sultan in Zanzibar, St. Joseph’s Cathedral, the oldest church in East Africa, and the Anglican Cathedral, which was built on the remains of the slave market after slave trade was illegalized.  We wound our way through labyrinthine streets as Sister told me about the culture and history of Zanzibar.  The population of Zanzibar is something like 98% Muslim, and you can see the Arab influence in almost everything, from architecture to cuisine to the people themselves (who, apparently are NOT called Zanzibarbarians;  Gonzo, you have led me astray).  All of it was beautiful to me.

One of the biggest surprises to me is that the entire island is made out of coral.  Yes, there is earth to grow things, and white sand beaches, but life on Zanzibar has been chiseled out of an ancient and massive hunk of coral.  Walking along a path at the compound where I was staying, Sr. Claudia warned me to watch my step, because what I had taken for rocks littering the path were actually hunks of coral poking up above the dirt. 

The ruins of palaces of sultans in ages past, the soaring palm trees dotting the landscape, the coral cliffs dropping down to white sand or azure water, the infinite number of stars arranged in unfamiliar constellations, the scars of the slave trade still born by the land- Zanzibar is a place of Beauty.  Some of it is happy and some of it is sad, but all of it is Beauty nonetheless.